


Banging Pots

by TheCookieMonster77



Series: Incomplete Melodies [2]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 03:59:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2414159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCookieMonster77/pseuds/TheCookieMonster77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Call it childish, but banging pots was always special to Natsu.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Banging Pots

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

Lucy stared. And blinked. And stared some more.

If it were anywhere other than the guildhall, someone would call her out for staring at Levy like she had purple horns growing out of her head. But, as she was surrounded by her guild mates, Lucy was barely spared a second glance as she focused on Levy with an odd intensity.

It's not like Lucy  _meant_  to stare at her best friend like a freak but, she just couldn't help it. After all, Gajeel was up on the stage playing whatever garbage he tries to pass off as music and Levy was listening and swaying to it as though it were good classical music. It was absurd!

Though Lucy knew that Levy had a not-so-secret crush on Gajeel (even if Levy insisted it was just a soft spot), Lucy couldn't believe that Levy would suddenly pretend to like Gajeel's music just to please him. Levy wouldn't lie to someone like that.

However, Lucy still could not figure out what the heck Levy was doing.

Lucy stared at Levy while Gajeel continued to play, nearly choking on her drink as Levy's smile grew and she eagerly applauded when Gajeel had finished his song. And Lucy didn't think Levy was applauding for the same reason as the rest of the guild (yes, Gajeel's music really was so irritating that they felt the need to applaud when it was done).

Levy spotted her and started walking over to join her. Lucy's curiosity grew when Levy paused by Gajeel, whispering something it his ear and patting his shoulder. Lucy's eyes bugged out when Gajeel didn't even reply with a sharp snort or sarcastic retort but, just nodded gruffly and gave her the barest of smiles.

Lucy waited for Levy to fully set down her drink before moving in on her. "Okay, spill it."

Levy's eyes widened and she blinked at Lucy innocently. "What?"

Lucy smacked the tabletop irritably and glared. "Don't play innocent! Something juicy happened between you and Gajeel and I want to know."

"Oh please," Levy said with nervous laugh, "You're so dramatic."

Lucy smirked. "But you didn't deny something happened between you and Gajeel. Come on, spill."

The faintest of blushes spread across Levy's cheeks and she shook her head. "You're reading too much into nothing. Nothing big happened."

"But something happened!" Lucy crowed. "You just admitted it. And please Levy, there's no way you would pretend that Gajeel can actually play good music unless you wanted him to notice you. Not that he wouldn't drop everything at a second's notice for you already."

Levy scowled at Lucy. "Don't insult his song."

Lucy blinked a bit before rolling her eyes. "Come on Levy, he sucks at playing. Why he bothers is beyond me."

"Don't insult his song!"

Lucy reeled back a bit at Levy's outburst, a slight flush of shame washing over her at Levy's protest. "Sorry. It's just...it's not exactly  _good_  music and even if you like him, you can't actually think  _that_."

Levy looked at Lucy, disappointment written across her face. She sighed. "I guess I can't really be mad at you when I said practically the same thing. But, Gajeel explained how it was a duet. His song won't sound good without a partner."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "Then he shouldn't play by himself. Unless," Lucy trailed off, a devilish smirk pulling at her lips. "He offered  _someone_  an opportunity to be his lovely  _partner_  for a very  _special_  song."

Levy rolled her eyes. "You're being ridiculous. Besides, I could never - and never would - take Metalicana's place."

Lucy blinked. "Metalicana?"

Levy nodded, absentmindedly swirling her drink. "Yeah. Apparently, dragons have these calls that help them locate and greet each other but, since Gajeel can't actually produce a roar, his song is his greeting call to Metalicana. Gajeel didn't fully explain it but, I think that the more intimate or familial a dragon is with another, the more intimate and personal their call is."

"So Gajeel's song is his greeting to his dad?" Lucy looked over at Gajeel with a soft smile on her face. "That's so sweet. Especially if he's willing to share it with the guild."

"Don't let him hear you say it," Levy warned, a teasing smile on her face. "He'll blush and threaten you. But yeah, it is sweet. He says he's only playing it because our speakers are loud and better to attract Metalicana but, I think it took a lot of trust in us for him to show it at all. I hope that he'll play the whole thing for us when he finds his dad. I've been trying to fill in the missing bits but, I don't really know where to start."

Lucy smiled and nodded. "Funny how he's the gruffest one of our dragon slayers and yet he's the only one with a sweet, personal greeting."

"He's not."

Lucy's head whipped around to face Levy. "What?"

Levy shrugged. "According to Gajeel, Natsu has some tapping thing he does and Wendy has this weird whistle thing."

Lucy frowned slightly. "I've never noticed."

"You might have. You probably just filed it away as some silly idiosyncrasy."

Lucy just hummed and turned back to the crowd, seeking out her teammate. Natsu didn't volunteer much about his time with Igneel so, she tended to jump at any chance for information. When she spotted - more like heard, really - Natsu starting a brawl, she figured it could wait for a more private setting. And then, as she ducked an errant mug, she started plotting.

* * *

It wasn't a brilliant plan.

Not that it needed to be. Lucy figured if it was like an idiosyncrasy, then Natsu's was probably something he would do when impatient. But, as Lucy looked over at her best friend sitting at her table, he was being surprisingly patient while she slowly packed a bag. Normally, this is something she would be exceedingly grateful for but, now was not the time for Natsu to suddenly discover patience. She was hoping his tick, as Levy put it, would reveal itself soon.

Sure enough, he started tapping away within a minute. It started out slow but, it soon picked up and all of his fingers were rapping her table, the harsh clicks echoing in her apartment.

"Natsu..." Lucy trailed off and bit her lip, worried Natsu wouldn't want to share something so personal. She felt a rush of gratitude towards Levy for the warning, otherwise she probably would have kicked Natsu to next week once she noticed the obnoxious habit.

"What is it Luce?"

Lucy looked up at Natsu's big, dark eyes and stumbled her answer for some reason. Her question suddenly felt much too personal, even though she was dying of curiosity. "Never mind."

Natsu frowned and stopped tapping. "Something's bothering you. What is it?"

"It's stupid. Don't worry about it," Lucy said as she waved her hand.

"It's not stupid if it upsets you."

Lucy felt a rush of affection for the Fire Dragon Slayer. She clenched her fists and nervously opened her mouth, worried about how he would take her question. "That tapping you were just doing. I noticed you doing it lately and it's always the same rhythm. I was just wondering why."

Natsu blinked at her. "That's it?"

"What do you mean that's it?" Lucy shrieked. She had just asked him an extremely personal question and he didn't even  _care_?

"I thought some guy was being a jerk or something. Really, if you wanted to know about my nervous tick, all you had to do was ask."

"I did ask!"

Natsu just shrugged. "I know, but then you were being all weird."

"I wasn't being weird!" Lucy protested. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Never mind. Will you tell me about the tapping?"

"Sure." Natsu started tapping out the rhythm again, somehow making it seem livelier by just paying attention to it. "This was something I would do to keep myself occupied when Igneel wasn't training me. He'd usually join in too, and he always made it sound better. It was also another way for Igneel to track me if he didn't want to use his nose or had a cold or something."

Lucy frowned. "Dragons have  _that_  good of hearing?"

Natsu looked up at Lucy in confusion. "All dragons have good hearing. Why'd you say it like that?"

"Well, Igneel must have some amazing ears if he was able to track you by just your tapping."

Natsu frowned. "It wasn't tapping. Tapping's just the easier way to do it now that people actually care if I act 'civilized' or not."

"Oh?" Lucy asked as she cocked her head to the side. "How was it originally?"

Natsu looked around her kitchen. "Do you mind if I use some of your pots?"

Lucy pursued her lips, having an internal debate. On one hand, she was pretty sure she knew where this was going. Natsu acted like he was seven half the time and Lucy  _really_  didn't want a noise complaint. On the other hand...she was curious about the seemingly insignificant tapping. She puffed her cheeks out before deciding that her natural curiosity triumphed potential complaints. "Go ahead."

Natsu gave her a boyish grin as he eagerly jumped up and started grabbing pots. "Igneel and I had pots, but neither of us really knew what to do with them," Natsu explained as he set up a precarious pile of various kitchen items. Lucy winced at the chaos but held her tongue at Natsu's obvious excitement. Natsu continued with his explanation, oblivious. "One day, I was bored, so I started chucking rocks at the pile of metal and liked the banging noises from it. It just kinda went from there."

Lucy regarded him with a fond smile. "Go figure."

Natsu just shrugged, a huge grin splitting his face. "You ready?" Lucy nodded eagerly.

Once Natsu started banging on the pots, it was all Lucy could do to stop herself from covering her ears and wailing. She knew she was going to get complaints but, in the face of Natsu's excitement, she just couldn't bring herself to stop him. Lucy could vaguely recognize his tapping sequence within all the clanging but, it felt like it was going to rattle her ears off. When Natsu stopped, she bit back her sigh of relief and just smiled, trying not to twitch from the ringing in her ears. "It's sweet and everything but, I was kind of hoping for something a bit more elaborate than just banging pots."

Natsu regarded her with an uncharacteristically solemn look. Lucy bit her lip, worried she had offended him. Natsu looked out her window, pursing his lips slightly. "Don't you get it Luce? So long as Igneel's gone, that's all I'm doing. Banging pots."

Lucy cocked her head to the side, studying Natsu's profile. He looked solemn and almost noble in the way he was staring out her window as though it held all the answers. Then, Natsu turned to her and smiled, the moment gone and normal Natsu back in his place. "So, are we going to go on that job or not?"

Lucy blinked, suddenly remembering that he was waiting for her to pack a bag for their trip. She hastily jumped up and threw another essential or two into her bag before yanking it over her shoulders. She grinned at Natsu before following him out of her apartment.

"Natsu!"

Natsu turned and grinned as Happy flew up to him. He laughed when Happy tackled him, giving the blue cat a quick hug. "Let's go!" he shouted, eagerly walking out of Mongolia Town.

Lucy smiled and ran after them, grabbing Natsu's hand to slow him down as Happy flew on a little bit ahead. "Natsu."

He turned his head towards her, his grin still huge. "What's up?"

"I hope you find Igneel soon."

Natsu's smile faded slightly. "Same here. But, even if I don't find him for another year, I still know he's in here," he said, his fist gently tapping over his heart, "with me. Sometimes, I can even hear him roaring along with me in my head."

Lucy squeezed his hand comfortingly. "We'll find him soon. Who knows, maybe this next job will bring you a step closer to him."

Natsu laughed. "Exactly. So come on slowpoke, we're taking forever."

Lucy laughed as Natsu dragged her along. They were going to find Igneel soon. She could feel it.

* * *

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